The birds and their cages are spread throughout the 2,700-square-foot home. The majority are in the living room, while six cages line an adjacent hallway so Vascovich can see them all from her chair while she relaxes. The dining room is reserved for foster birds from the Erie Cage Bird Club in Waterford Township. Vascovich has three cockatiels in there now, which she thought were males until two recently laid eggs.

Then there's what Vascovich calls the breeder room, which was going to be a library but now is home to 18 canaries, cockatiels and parakeets meant for breeding. That makes for some noisy times, especially around sunrise and sunset.

"During the day I have a lot of talkers," Vascovich said.

Jake, a 12-year-old yellow-naped Amazon, sings "Old MacDonald" quite well. Others join Vascovich in a rousing rendition of "Goodnight Sweetheart" before bedtime every night. A few know how to answer the telephone and say hello.

Some like to talk. Some even like to be petted. Others are too feisty for Vascovich to handle. "Some of them I just can't stick my hand in there," she said.

That's when Zimmerman takes control. "I don't put up with it. They back off when I open the doors," he said.

Zimmerman, 61, a teacher at General McLane High School for nearly 36 years, said, "I never thought it would get to quite this many."

But the number of birds grew rapidly after Vascovich joined the Erie Cage Bird Club and began fostering birds.

"I would go to work in the morning, and I would come home and there would be new birds in the house," said Zimmerman, who takes injections because he's allergic to birds. "When you're not here (at home), you can't very well put your foot down."

He's very understanding of the work involved to care for the birds, as well as the expense. For example, Vascovich said, baby macaws and African gray parrots cost $1,200, while some cockatoos cost between $500 and $600. They regularly purchase five kinds of pellet food and three types of seeds, because their birds need different sizes of food. They recently paid nearly $200 for three bags of pellets.

The birds also have different tastes in food. They love fruits and vegetables, as well as peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and waffles.

Yet Vascovich, who once cared for people with special needs but has spent the past five years on disability because of back problems, said these birds are a large part of her life.

"I don't know what I would do without my birds," she said. "They're really important to me."

VICTOR FERNANDES can be reached at 870-1716 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ETNfernandes.